In 2011, the 123rd Precinct ticketed drivers on the southern portion of Staten Island 2,268 times for speeding. But last year, according to the city Police Department, summonses for traveling above the speed limit dropped to just 1,353, or just over 112 speeding tickets per month or close to four per day. And just 58 motorists were ticketed for speeding in December.

Despite the drop-off in speeding tickets, officers assigned to the NYPD's Tottenville-based hub dished out 10,547 summonses to drivers in the past 12 months, or six less than 2012.

Another common violation – cell phone use – resulted in 930 tickets, also down from the previous year. The 122nd Precinct tagged phone-using drivers with 2,271 tickets while the 120th Precinct wrote 2,031.

Safety belt-related tickets jumped about 400 to top the precinct's list at 1,829. Motorists driving without insurance were hit with 1,066 summonses, while the NYPD gave 747 tickets to unlicensed operators of vehicles. Folks with tinted windows received 846 tickets.

Regarding other offenses observed by South Shore officers, motorists were slapped with 511 summonses for brake lights; 398 for disobeying signs; 499 due to defective or improper headlights; 461 for improper turns, and 472 for disobeying pavement markings.

Meanwhile, among the least ticketed offenses were driving down a one-way street (five); illegal U-turn (two); spillback, or blocking an intersection (three); unsafe lane change (two); defective brakes (six), and not giving the right of way to pedestrians (seven).

Boroughwide, officers issued 43,333 tickets last year.

The Island's greatest offenses involved cell phone use, which resulted in 5,232 summonses, and failure to wear safety belts, an inaction that resulted in 5,512 tickets. Motorists were caught speeding 3,461 times. Of the 43,000-plus tickets given on Staten Island, about 10 percent were for folks driving without a license.

To see all of the statistics, visit the NYPD's website via www.nyc.gov/nypd and click the Traffic Data link on the column on the left.